This invention relates to a swimming pool cleaning method wherein an organosilane is immobilized as a coating on the pool walls in order to facilitate removal of algae and other microbial and nonmicrobial stains and soils.
Antimicrobial agents are chemical compositions that are used to prevent microbiological contamination and deterioration of products, materials, and systems. Particular areas of application of antimicrobial agents and compositions are, for example, cosmetics, disinfectants, sanitizers, wood preservation, food, animal feed, cooling water, metalworking fluids, hospital and medical uses, plastics and resins, petroleum, pulp and paper, textiles, latex, adhesives, leather and hides, and paint slurries. Of the diverse categories of antimicrobial agents and compositions, quaternary ammonium compounds represent one of the largest of the classes of antimicrobial agents in use At low concentrations, quaternary ammonium type antimicrobial agents are bacteriostatic, fungistatic, algistatic, sporostatic, and tuberculostatic. At medium concentrations they are bactericidal, fungicidal, algicidal, and viricidal against lipophilic viruses. Silicone quaternary ammonium salt compounds are well known as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,560,385, issued February 2, 1971, and the use of such compounds as antimicrobial agents is taught, for example, in a wide variety of patents such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,730,701, issued May 1, 1973, and 3,817,739, issued June 18, 1974, where the compounds are used to inhibit algae; 3,794,736, issued February 26, 1974, and 3,860,709, issued January 14, 1975, where they are employed for sterilizing or disinfecting a variety of surfaces and instruments; 3,865,728, issued February 11, 1975. where the compounds are used to treat aquarium filters; 4,259,103, issued March 31, 1981; and in British Pat. No. 1,386,876, of March 12, 1975. Published unexamined European Application No. 228464 of July 15, 1987, teaches that microorganisms on plants can be killed by the application thereto of an aqueous mixture of a surfactant and an organosilicon quaternary ammonium compound. U.S. Pat. No. 4,564,456, issued Jan. 14, 1986, discloses organosilanes as anti-scale agents in water systems. In a particular application of an antimicrobial silicone quaternary ammonium compound, a paper substrate is rendered resistant to the growth of microorganisms in U.S. Pat. No. 4,282,366, issued Aug. 4, 1981. In U.S. Pat. No 4,504,541, issued Mar. 12, 1985, an antimicrobial fabric is disclosed which is resistant to discoloration and yellowing by treatment of the fabric with a quaternary ammonium base containing an organosilicone. U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,937, issued Oct. 7, 1986, as well as its companion U. S. Pat. No. 4,692,374, issued Sept. 8, 1987, relate to wet wiper towelettes having an antimicrobial agent substantive to the fibers of the web and being an organosilicon quaternary ammonium compound. In a series of Burlington Industries, Inc. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,408,996, issued Oct. 11, 1983, 4,414,268, issued Nov. 8, 1983, 4,425,372, issued Jan. 10, 1984, and 4,395,454, issued July 26, 1983, such compounds are disclosed to be useful in surgical drapes, dressings, and bandages. This same assignee also discloses these compounds as being employed in surgeons' gowns in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,411,928, issued Oct. 25, 1983, and 4,467,013, issued Aug. 21, 1984. Organosilicon quaternary ammonium compounds have been employed in carpets, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,371,577, issued Feb. 1, 1983; applied to walls, added to paints, and sprayed into shoes, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,394,378, issued July 19, 1983; applied to polyethylene surfaces and used in pillow ticking in U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,511, issued Jan. 26, 1988, in flexible polyurethane foams of fine-celled, soft, resilient articles of manufacture in U.S. Pat. No. 4,631,297, issued Dec. 23, 1986; and mixed with a surfactant in Japanese Kokai Application No. 58-156809, filed Aug. 26, 1983, of Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd., for the purpose of achieving uniformity of distribution of the compounds to a surface. Thus, the versatility of such compositions is readily apparent.
However, it is not known in the prior art to utilize an immobilized organosilane for the purpose of providing a dead cell layer of algae, and employing the dead cell layer of algae as a release medium in order to facilitate cleaning of swimming pool surfaces, as is taught in accordance with the present invention. Organosilanes have been added to water systems as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,564,456, but the compounds function to inhibit the formation of scale. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,730,701, organosilanes function in water systems to flocculate algae which is subsequently removed by filtration or settling. Such compounds have also been bonded to surfaces such as fibrous filter media in order to kill algae in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,817,739, and 3,865,728. None teach the concepts disclosed herein, nor the specific application of the concept to swimming pools.